President Trump has already succeeded in making many Mexicans in the United States return to Mexico. This repatriation already began even before the inauguration. But evidence it is continuing is piling up.

And the Mexican press now reports returning Mexicans are driving up housing costs in the state of Mexico (also known as Edomex), the country’s most populous state.

Due to the return, this year, of a high number of migrants to our country, the purchase of subsidized housing [by means of loans or a government subsidy] in the northeast zone of the State of Mexico, particularly in the municipios of Ecatepec and Nezahualcoyotl, has increased 20 per cent over 2016, reported the president of the Asociación Mexicana de Profesionales Inmobiliarios in the northeast zone of the Estado de Mexico (AMPI-NOVA), Guillermo Isaac Castro Lopez.

(The new president of the association, Isaac Castro, just took an oath for the 2017-2018 term, so Excelsior shows five Mexican officials of the association performing a Nazi-like salute, a form of Mexican salute unconnected with WWII.

Said Castro: “Since the past January, an increase in the purchase of vivienda de interés social has been noted, under 500,000 pesos. …. in this northeast zone of the State of Mexico, most of the costs of housing vary in an average cost of 400,000 pesos.”

Nearly twenty percent more of these houses are being sold in comparison to last year, and also the housing in the State of Mexico has gotten more expensive, increasing 15-20% compared to 2016. Thus, even subsidized housing prices are increasing.

Note too that the Mexicans who go back have somewhere to go, their home towns. And this is only a report from one region; migrants are returning to all regions of Mexico.

Much of this return migration is driven by expectations of future enforcement actions. But most of what Trump promised has not occurred. The Wall doesn’t exist; DACA is intact and taking new applicants. We need to keep up the pressure.

At the same time, as President Trump hopefully feels the heat from immigration patriots at home, the Mexican government is coming under pressure to do more for returning migrants. This is a good thing.

Mexicans know about the “sanctuary city” situation in the United States. Now Mexico City itself has been declared a “sanctuary city”. Excelsior reports:

Luis Wertman Zaslav, president of the Citizen Council of Mexico City, announced this morning [January 31] that the capital of the Republica would be converted into a “Sanctuary City” so that all the fellow Mexicans who return from the United States and attempt to live in the metropolis, or for those who have to pass through the city to arrive to where they are from.

Despite what you might assume, this doesn’t mean Mexico City is a sanctuary city for non-Mexican illegal aliens in Mexico. They’re still not welcome. It means it’s a “sanctuary city” for Mexicans who return from the United States.

But they’re Mexicans, right? Why do they need special permission to go to Mexico City?

At least the authorities are thinking of repatriated Mexicans, complete with giving them a helpline for returnees, issuing credentials for the skills they practiced and providing identity documents.

HELPING MEXICANS DISPLACED BY RETURNING MEXICANS

Mexico’s Labor Secretary, Alfonso Navarrete Prida, recently signed a labor agreement with Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. It’s said to be the first such agreement between these countries in history and involves a modest exchange of guest workers.

Interestingly, Secretary Navarrete speaks openly about Mexican laborers who could be displaced by Central Americans and even by other Mexicans returning to Mexico:

Navarrete on Central Americans:”…they speak the same language as us, and do the same jobs. But they come in conditions of vulnerability and their employers can hire them, and having this vulnerability, they can be hired at a lower wage and displace the Mexican population.”

Navarrete on Returning Mexicans displacing Mexicans already in Mexico: “… to receive [returning] Mexicans, we will coordinate with the states, to support them in their return and reinsertion to the labor force and to support the Mexicans who are here, who would be displaced by labor who arrive with better qualifications, having worked in the United States and who have also the need of employment.”

Bottom line: some interesting - and potentially positive – things are happening in Mexico. Mexican government officials realize they need to do more to help returnees, especially as it could become a political issue and the political parties compete to show who is doing more.

Of course, the Mexican government will continue to meddle in our immigration policy, especially as our government (even Trump) seems oblivious.

But if the Trump administration keeps up the pressure, Mexico will be forced to take back and then help their own people.

Americans are definitely not “tired of winning”—but here, at least, is a start.

American citizen Allan Wall (email him) moved back to the U.S.A. in 2008 after many years residing in Mexico. Allan's wife is Mexican, and their two sons are bilingual. In 2005, Allan served a tour of duty in Iraq with the Texas Army National Guard. His VDARE.COM articles are archivedhere; his Mexidata.info articles are archivedhere ; his News With Views columns are archivedhere; and his website is here.